Practicing Emergencies in the Recliner

AuntPeggy

AuntPeggy

Final Approach
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Namaste
I noticed this in AvWeb this week about a pilot who managed an engine failure well.
"You know, I'm glad that every once in a while when I'm sitting around waiting for the passengers on a charter trip I pull out the POH and walk through the emergency procedures section and visualize what I would do for each one a couple of times."
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Sounds like a good idea to me. Have you ever whiled away the time in the Pilot's Lounge with Section 3 of the POH? BTW, the article is at http://www.avweb.com/news/pilotlounge/pilots_lounge_117_playing_lets_pretend_for_keeps_196073-1.html
 
I've had an extra FAR/AIM book in my car for the last two years.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Just in case you ever have an emergency FAR violation? :rofl:
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Yep, ya never know when I may violate the minimums while going down the road! :fcross:

I get kind of concerned about altitude restrictions down here.
 
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Just remember to keep it below 250kts (unless you're driving in mountains)!
 
And only make left hand turns unless told otherwise...
 
I've arm-chair flown procedures and emergencies for years, but I still enjoyed this article for a couple of thoughts that hadn't occurred to me before regarding engine failure on takeoff.

1) What the sudden loss of engine torque p-factor would do to your lateral track, and what you might have to do NOW to stay in control;

and

2) Why "throttle: to idle" is the memory item. Before reading this story, I'd always thought "the engine is DEAD... why the heck would pulling the throttle to idle matter". Now I know. DUH!

Always learning and getting safer. Ain't it fun!?
 
Chair flying has been huge for me in my training. Putting a poster on the wall (or drawing the six pack and all the switches and buttons on legal pads then taping those to the wall) and sitting in front of it running through checklists, procedures, and profiles...everything from starting the engines to losing the engine(s) to landing the thing. "Paper Tiger" flying makes life a lot easier because the verbage and flows of the checklist will be a lot more familiar once you get into the real plane. Even in the airline training, we do 10 hours of paper trainer...training...before we ever get in the sim. It looks dorky as can be, but it works.
 
In my neck of the woods we call those memory items "bold face". It's funny watching everyone on the flight deck run through the motions during the takeoff briefing when we get to the part about an aborted take off. Brakes-maximum, Throttles-idle, Speed brakes-up. We all make the motions like a brainwashed lab rat, but in the event of the real deal, it may save the bacon. It has for me a few times. Chair and hangar flying is the best thing to happen to aviation since Orville and Wilbur.
 
Normals, emergencies, whatever...chair flying helps.

I had a 13-year-old glider student years ago who would struggle mightily the first time we demonstrated any maneuver. Next time he came out, he had them down perfectly. He'd sit in bed with a short length of broomstick and pretend he was flying the glider.

After about 1/3 of the normal flights it took to solo someone, I had to figure out what to do with him til he turned 14 and I COULD solo him.

Fly safe!

David
 
MauleSkinner said:
I had a 13-year-old glider student years ago who would struggle mightily the first time we demonstrated any maneuver. Next time he came out, he had them down perfectly. He'd sit in bed with a short length of broomstick and pretend he was flying the glider.
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I could just picture his folks walking in on him... "Mom, DAD... COME BACK! I was practicing flying a glider... with a short broomstick.... REALLY!!!"
 
Oh, you guys are SICK :eek::yes:

I guess I coulda' left out the "bed" part, but a chair wouldn't have promoted the proper posture.

Oh well ;)

Fly safe!

David
 
AWACSEng said:
In my neck of the woods we call those memory items "bold face". It's funny watching everyone on the flight deck run through the motions during the takeoff briefing when we get to the part about an aborted take off. Brakes-maximum, Throttles-idle, Speed brakes-up. We all make the motions like a brainwashed lab rat, but in the event of the real deal, it may save the bacon. It has for me a few times. Chair and hangar flying is the best thing to happen to aviation since Orville and Wilbur.
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Yup. I was solo in a two ship doing a formation takeoff, and I took a bird down the number 2 engine at rotation. The boldface in the T-38 is THROTTLES - MAX, FLAPS - 60%, AIRSPEED - ATTAIN SETOS MINIMUM. Before I could even think about what happened, I'd already checked the throttles in MAX, lowered the nose, and applied the boldface. What seemed like it took 10 minutes only took about a half a second. I never even stopped to think that I was actually applying boldface.. I just did what seemed right.

Of course, what "seemed right" was the training that had been ingrained in me since day one.
 
Patch said:
Yup. I was solo in a two ship doing a formation takeoff, and I took a bird down the number 2 engine at rotation. The boldface in the T-38 is THROTTLES - MAX, FLAPS - 60%, AIRSPEED - ATTAIN SETOS MINIMUM. Before I could even think about what happened, I'd already checked the throttles in MAX, lowered the nose, and applied the boldface. What seemed like it took 10 minutes only took about a half a second. I never even stopped to think that I was actually applying boldface.. I just did what seemed right.

Of course, what "seemed right" was the training that had been ingrained in me since day one.
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There are certain emergency checklists that I can still recite. I'm in my 50s and it's been 30 years. Amazing.
 
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